A short account of Ramanuj appears to be necessary to explain the doctrines of Ramanand, and the progress of Hindu religious reform in India. Swami Ramanuj [1] flourished in the eleventh century of the Christian era. He was born in the village of Bhutnagan, also called Perumbhudur, south-east ot Kanchipur, the modern Kanjeveram, in the [ p. 94 ] Madras Presidency, in the year A. D. 1017 during the reign of Betawardhan, King of Dwar Samudra in the Maisur (Mysore) state. The date of his birth is attested by the Sanskrit chronogram dhirlabdha, a word which yields the date 939 of the Saka era, and means that men received patience or consolation at his birth. Ramanuj’s father was Keshav Jajjwa, a Brahman said to be of the illustrious race of Harit, the spiritual and literary king of the Rikhis, His mother was called Kantimati. For a long time she was childless. Her husband prayed to heaven for a son when, it is said, a god appeared to him and told him his desire should be granted. To effect this, it is related that Sheshnag, the wise serpent, which according to the Hindus supports the earth, became incarnate as Ramanuj.
On the mother’s side also Ramanuj belonged to an intellectual family, for it was his mother’s brother Yadav Acharya, [2] who was Ramanuj’s first preceptor and taught him the principles of the Hindu religion as expounded in the Simritis. Ramanuj became an apt pupil, and at a very early age mastered the Veds and the Shastars. While pursuing his studies he delighted to sit under a tamarind tree near Perumbhudur, which is still worshipped by his followers.
Ramanuj propounded new opinions with reference to the relation between the Creator and his creatures. He refuted the theories of the famous Shankar Acharya who was a Vedantist, and he began to inculcate the superiority of the worship of Vishnu to that of Shiv, the principal object of worship in southern India.
Ramanuj exorcised an evil spirit, of which the daughter of the king of Kanchipur had become possessed. The king was well pleased and gave [ p. 95 ] him munificent remuneration. Finding the king in a mood to listen to his teaching, he preached to him the advantages of the Vaishnav doctrines. His superior intellectual attainments and his success in everything to which he turned his attention excited the jealousy of his preceptor, who formed a plot to take him on a pilgrimage to Banaras, and secretly drown him in the Ganges. Ramanuj was saved from this fate by the timely information received from his aunt’s son. [3]
Ramanuj for a considerable time worshipped an idol called Bar draj, the tutelary deity of Kanchipur. Desirous to extend his theological studies, and thoroughly distrustful of his uncle, he went to Sri Rang Nath, the modern Srirangam at the parting of the rivers Kavari and Kolarun, near Trichinoply, to visit Yamun Acharya, the great representative of the Sri sect, and obtain initiation from him and adoption as his disfeiple. Unfortunately Yamun Acharya had died before the arrival of Ramanuj. The latter then put himself under the tutelage of Mahapuran, Yamun Acharya’s disciple and successor. He subsequently became the disciple of Goshtipuran, who sent him back eighteen times before he was satisfied of his fitness for initiation.
Nabhaji, writing from a Vaishnav standpoint, enumerates four great sects of Hindus, the Sri, the Shiv, the Brahma, and the Sankadik. The members of the Sri sect worship Vishnu under the form of his energy or consort Lakshmi. Indeed, it is said that Vishnu himself taught the proper form of his worship to Lakshmi, and she handed it down in a direct line to Ramanuj.
Ramanuj continued his studies with ardour at Sri Rang Nath, and there composed his commentaries on the Sutras of Vyas and other Vedic works. [ p. 96 ] When past fifty years of age he left his family and devoted himself to the salvation of his fellow men. Mahapuran had communicated to him the spell by which God’s protection might be obtained, and told him that whoever heard it should be saved from the pain of transmigration. At the same time he informed Ramanuj that he was never to disclose the secret. Ramanuj pondered on the prohibition, and came to the conclusion that it was on every account proper to divulge to men the secret of salvation, even though he were to suffer eternal punishment for the disclosure. He accordingly went from place to place repeating with a loud voice the spell of human deliverance. He made pilgrimages to Triputi, Jagannath, and Banaras, and having successfully preached the Vaishnav doctrines at these holy places erected buildings for worship at them all. From Banaras he proceeded to Badrinath in the Himalayas, where he did homage to Vishnu under his dual form of Nar Narayan. He is said to have made converts by thousands and tens of thousands.
In the Prapann Amrit, a Sanskrit work devoted to Ramanuj and his doctrines, it is stated that in the month of Poh in the year 1012 of the Salavahana era, corresponding to 1090 of the Christian era, he dedicated an idol to God under the name of Narayan at a place called Yadavachala. [4]
The chroniclers disclose the extent to which religious zeal and its allies, religious bigotry and persecution, even then prevailed in India. The Chola king Karikala, called Krimi Kantha on account of some affection of the throat from which he suffered, was a bigoted worshipper of Shiv, and held the doctrines of the Sri sect in devout abhorrence. He engaged in controversy with Mahapuran, Ramanuj’s religious guide, and Kruresh, a disciple of Ramanuj. The monarch on being vanquished in [ p. 97 ] argument resorted to physical force for revenge, and put out the eyes of his antagonists. Mahapuran died in a few days, but Kruresh survived and subsequently rendered Ramanuj invaluable service in the dissemination of his doctrines.
Ramanuj himself, in order to escape from the fury of Krimi Kantha, took shelter in the court of Bitta or Vitala Deva, the Jain monarch of Dwar Samudra in the Maisur state, who reigned from A. D. 1104 to 1141. [5] After a controversy with Ramanuj the king changed his faith and sought the protection of God in his teachings. Filled with new zeal he changed his name also to Vishnu Vardhana and set to work to convert his numerous subjects, who are stated to have been all of the Jain religion. Most of them were converted, but some fled, and the rest the monarch piously put to the sword. In A. D. 1117 the king erected the Belur temple in commemoration of his conversion to Vaishnavism by Ramanuj.
Ramanuj fearing for his own safety in his native country and pleased with the holy zeal, friendship, and protection of the Maisur king, resided at his capital for twelve years, during which time he induced him to erect a temple to Krishan at Mailkot, Here Ramanuj continued to preach his doctrines, and made numerous converts among the Brahmans, whom he withdrew from their allegiance to Shiv.
Ramanufs religious teachings began to be adopted at Purushotampuri, the modern Jagannath, then as now one of the greatest strongholds of the Hindu religion. His rules for daily life, however, were of a very exclusive character, and such as could hardly [ p. 98 ] have been expected from a man who fearlessly disclosed to the world the secrets of salvation. He enjoined the utmost attention to cleanliness in cooking and eating, an injunction which must be commended on sanitary grounds, but he made regulations concerning dress, salutation, and sacrificial marks of too strict a character for general observance. For instance, his followers cooked for themselves, and ate in the greatest privacy after bathing. On one point in particular he laid the greatest stress : If the sight or shadow of any person fell upon the food of a follower of his, it was to be immediately rejected. He believed that purity of thought could only be attained by eating food not seen by others. Nabhaji states that the strict culinary rules of Ramanuj were not made for caste purposes, but for the glory of God and purity of worship.
Such teaching naturally met with opposition. It can easily be gathered that Jagannath became too dangerous a place for Ramanuj to permanently reside in, and he escaped at night to pursue his missionary career in other lands. He is said to have had ten thousand followers, seventy-four of whom were specially devoted to their teacher. These seventy-four, however, each put a different interpretation on his doctrines, and accordingly established as many sects of their own. Ramanuj died at Sriranganath at the age of one hundred and twenty years. The chronogram dharmonashta or the destruction of religion, gives the date of his death as 1059 of the Shaka era, corresponding to A. D. 1137.
The mantra or words of initiation of the sect consists of eight letters, and is communicated in a secret whisper by the teacher to his disciple. The
E reclamation of the mantra was made by Ramanuj 'om the loftiest gopura, known as the white gopura, or ornamental gateway of the temple at Srirangam. The motto of members of their order is ‘ Ramanuj [ p. 99 ] assya daso asmi’ I am a slave of Ramanuj. The head is slightly inclined and the hands are joined and applied to the forehead for the purposes of salutation. The sacrificial marks of the sect are several. On the forehead there are two vertical streaks made with a calcareous clay called gopichandan. Within them is a vertical red streak made of turmeric and lime. The white streaks are connected over the nose by a transverse streak which admits of several varieties. The usual marks on the forehead are as follow ; — | | |, to denote that body, tongue, and mind should be kept under subjection. On the breast and upper arms Ramanuj is make white patches in which they enclose red streaks. The several marks represent the shell, quoit, club, and lotus carried in the four hands of Vishnu, and the central streak of red represents his consort or energy Lakshmi. It is piously believed that persons, no matter of what caste, who apply these marks to their foreheads are after their departure from this life not molested by Death’s ministers. The sect besides venerate the salagram stone and the sweet basil flower as indispensable adjuncts of worship.
The followers of Ramanuj believe that Vishnu is the supreme Being, that he existed before all worlds, and was the Creator of all things. Creation originated in his desire to multiply himself and was formed from his material essence. This essence, however manifested, is pervaded by a portion of his vitality which again is distinct from his spiritual essence, as God the spirit and matter are all distinct. Like the propounders of other religious systems, Ramanuj found himself in a difficulty between pantheism and anthropomorphism. Vishnu pervades all creation. Vishnu and the universe are one, but at the same time Vishnu is not devoid of form, and he is endowed with all good qualities. Vishnu has manifested himself to men in several human and other incarnations. He is present in [ p. 100 ] objects of worship, and may be adored by the purification of temples and idols, by the presentation of flowers and perfumes, by counting rosaries and repeating his name and that of his energy or consort Lakshmi, and finally by the practice of Jog. The reward of such devotion is release from all transmigration throughout eternity.
Several temples were erected in Ramanuj’ s honour, the principal of which are at Jadari, Galata, Ahobal, and Rewasa. In the famous fort of Srirangapatam, also, a temple sacred to Ramanuj is pointed out to visitors:
Ramanuj wrote several works, the principal of which are the Sri Ramanuj Bhashya, the Gita Bhashya, the Vedaratha Sangraha, the Vedanta dipa, the Vedanta Sar, and the Dharm Sanhita. [6]
Ramanand, a Gaur Brahman, was born at Mailkot, where Ramanuj had set up an idol of Vishnu and induced the Brahmans to renounce their devotion to Shiv. Very little is known of Ramanand’s life. Only a page and a half is devoted to it in Nabhaji’s Bhagat Mal, where he is compared to Ram, and made an incarnation of God come down from heaven to save the world.
The Ramanandis make -it a special point to keep all details of their sect and its founder a profound secret. All the works that we have been able to obtain relating to Ramanand have been for the most part devoted to his praise. We give here such details of his life as have been gleaned from accessible sources.
Nabhaji makes Ramanand the fourth in spiritual [ p. 101 ] descent from Ramanuj. Allowing a third of a century as an average period of incumbency for each religious teacher, Ramanand must have flourished in the end of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth century. This corresponds too with another reckoning which may be employed as a chronological test. The great religious reformer Kabir, of whom we shall presently have much to say, was according to all documentary and traditional evidence a disciple of Ramanand. Now the followers of Kabir say that the year A. D. 1908 is the 510th of his era. His birth therefore, according to them, took place in the year A. D. 1398, a date which may be unhesitatingly accepted. We are thus able to fix Ramanand’ s approximate epoch.
Ramanand like Ramanuj originally imbibed the Hindu doctrines enunciated in the Simritis, in which he had been instructed by a hermit. He subsequently adopted the reformed principles of Ramanuj and became a prominent member of the Sri sect. It is related that Ramanand, while, still a worshipper according to the Simritis, was one day gathering flowers in a garden when he saw Swami Raghwanand, a follower of Ramanuj . Raghwanand asked him if he knew anything of his own state, but, before he had time to answer, told him that he had reached the end of his life, and exhorted him to seek the protection of God at the last hour. Ramanand went and informed his hermit tutor of the message he had received. The hermit and his pupil proceeded to Raghwanand and besought his divine intercession. The great Swami took compassion on Ramanand, and by his skill in the arduous practice of Jog suspended at the critical moment Ramanand’ s life breath in the tenth gate of his body* The time fixed by destiny for Ramanand’s death having thus passed, Raghwanand bestowed on him the coveted boon of a protracted life.
Ramanand served the Swami for some time, and [ p. 102 ] then went on a pilgrimage to Badrikashram, the modern Badri Narain in the Himalayas, and other places. In the course of his wanderings he visited Banaras, and lived at the ghat called Panch Ganga, where his sandals were preserved at the time of the composition of Nabhaji’s Bhagat Mal.
It is certain that Ramanand came in contact at Banaras with learned Musalmans, for by that time there had been several conquests of India under the flag of the Prophet of Makka. It is natural to suppose that there should have been held at the ancient sacred city of the Hindus heated controversies between Mullas and Brahmans, and that the better informed classes of Hindus, who had already shown a predilection for monotheism, should have formed a just conception of the divine unity. We shall afterwards see how some of the followers of Ramanand at Banaras became fervent monotheists, and at the same time ridiculed the priestcraft of the Mullas and the Brahmans. . Being far from members of his own religious persuasion, Ramanand was now free to form his own ideas and speculations on religion, and he laid aside among other previous articles of belief several of the cumbrous social and caste observances of the Sri sect. When he returned after long absence to Raghwanand, his co-religionists and those who had previously lived with him interrogated him as to his observance of caste rules since his departure from them. It was found that his theological belief had altered in some respects, and that he had relaxed the severe culinary rules of Ramanuj .
It is an ordinary practice of Hindu priests when they lay food before an idol to draw a screen over both the idol and the food. When sufficient time according to human ideas is allowed the idol for its consumption, the screen is withdrawn. The followers of Ramanuj observe the same practice, but have added to it a stern injunction that, if any [ p. 103 ] one but the person cooking see the idol’s food, it must be immediately rejected. The followers of Ramanuj consider attention to such matters one of the most important elements of divine worship.
Ramanand did not adopt this view. Like another great Teacher he could not understand what concern culinary rules had with the worship of God; [7] and he must have freely given vent to his feelings, though his expressions have not been preserved. His sect promptly expelled him, but his religious guide Raghwanand appears to have felt some sympathy with him, for he authorized him to found a sect of his own, which he accordingly did. The theological tenets of the new faith corresponded to some extent with those of Ramanuj, except that Sita and Ram instead of Lakshmi and Narayan became special objects of Ramanand’ s worship, and the culinary and kindred rules of the Ramanuj is were generously relaxed.
Ramanand then applied himself to prove from the Shastars that the observance of caste rules was unnecessary for any one who sought the protection of God and embraced his service. He laid it down as a rule that all persons of any caste who accepted the tenets and principles of his sect, might eat and drink together irrespective of birth. All men who serve God in the same way are brothers and of the same social position. Contrary to the practice of Ramanuj, who had enforced a discipline too strict for ordinary mortals, Ramanand threw his spiritual door wide open, admitted disciples of all castes, and boldly announced that gyan, or knowledge of God, emancipated man from all social bondage.
It is written in Nabhaji’s Bhagat Mal that even a low caste man who loves God is superior to a Brahman who, although irreproachable in his acts, possesses no love for the Creator. An instance of [ p. 104 ] this is cited. At the great feast given by Yudhishtar to commemorate the victory of the Pandavs over the Kauravs, the festal bell would not ring spontaneously at the appointed time. Krishan, who attended the banquet, inquired if any person had failed to receive his share of the viands. He was informed that food had not been served to Valmik because he was a Chandal, and, as a huntsman, destroyer of life. Krishan then ordered that Valmik should be seated in the midst of the assemblage, and that Draupadi, the fractional wife [8] of Yudhishtar, should feed him with her own hands. This she accordingly did, and the festal bell pealed forth struck by no earthly hands.
Ramanand was distinguished for his kindness to others and his love of God. He pointed out the way of the Lord to men of the four castes and the four conditions of life. [9] He deemed forms of adoration superfluous, and held that the supreme reward of devotion was to be obtained by incessantly uttering God’s name. He called his disciples the Liberated, when he allowed them and they accepted a liberal interpretation of the Hindu social rules sanctioned by religion. At the same time he vehemently opposed atheists and those who boasted that they existed independently of God. He vanquished in argument the Jains, the Budhists, and the followers of the left way, [10] whose devotions were not addressed to the supreme Lord of the world.
[ p. 105 ]
Ramanand, having forsaken the cares of the world, gave himself up to vairag or renunciation of all worldly things, and thus became the first Bairagi. He had four disciples, from each of whom arose four sects composed of Nagas, who are purely ascetic and practise seclusion, and Samayogis, who marry and lead domestic lives. Both orders may eat together. They mostly belong to the Sudar class, but some wear the triple cord of the twice-born Hindus, and style themselves Gaur Brahmans who had their origin in the north of India.
It is said that Ramanand at Ganga Sagar — at the mouth of the Hughli branch of the Ganges — discovered a temple sacred to Kapila, an incarnation of Vishnu and author of the Sankhya Shastars. A fair is annually held there at the time of the winter solstice.
The disciples of Ramanand were, according to Nabhaji, Anantanand, Sureshwaranand, Sukhanand, Bhawanand, Pipa, Sain, Dhanna, Ravdas, Kabir, and others. Ramanand died at Banaras at an advanced age…
Most of the present followers of Ramanand appear to have completely fallen away from his teaching, and observe caste rules with the utmost strictness. As far as their tenets are concerned, they appear to have become hopelessly confused with the Ramanujis, and to differ only in their sectarial marks and their preference for Sita and Ram to Lakshmi and Narayan as objects of worship.
The following is the hymn of Ramanand found in the Granth Sahib. An invitation had been given him to attend a religious service of Vishnu, to which he replied : —
BASANT
Whither shall I go, Sir ? I am happy at home.
My heart will not go with me ; it hath become a cripple. [11] [ p. 106 ]
One day I did have an inclination to go ;
I ground sandal, took distilled aloe wood and many perfumes,
And was proceeding to worship God in a temple,
When my spiritual guide showed me God in my heart.
Wherever I go I find only water or stones. [12]
But Thou, O God, art equally contained in everything.
The Veds and the Purans all have I seen and searched.
Go thou thither, if God be not here.
O true guru, I am a sacrifice unto thee
Who hast cut away all my perplexities and doubts.
Ramanand’s Lord is the all-pervading God ;
The guru’s word cutteth away millions of sins.
The author is indebted to Mr. L. Rice of Bangalore for some valuable notes on the life of Ramanuj. ↩︎
Some followers of Ramanuj deny that Yadav Acharya was his uncle. ↩︎
Nabhaji’s Bhagat Mal and also Maharaja Raghuraj Sinh’s Bhagat Mal Some believe the lady whom Ramanuj cured was the daughter of Dwarsamudar. ↩︎
Prapann Amrit, Bombay edition. ↩︎
Bitta Deva was king of the Hoysalas who lived on the west of the present Maisur state. Bitta Deva’s dynasty ruled Maisur from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Their capital was Dwarsamudajr, now Halebid, in the Belur district. The Cholas and their king lived to the east of the Hoysalas. The Hoysala kings were Jains up tp the time of Bitta Deva.— Rice’s Mysore. ↩︎
Besides the Prapann Amrz’t, the principal authorities for the life of Ramanuj are the Bhagat Mal (Hindi), the Divya Charitar (Kanarese), the Bharat Khanda cha aravachm kosh (Marathi), and the Kabi Charitar (Gujrati).
For a further account of Ramanuj’s doctrines and followers see Sir Monier Williams’s Brahmanism and Hinduism. ↩︎
‘Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man’. ↩︎
At that time polyandry was in force. Draupadi was wife of the whole five Pandav brothers, one of whom was Yudhishtar. ↩︎
Brahmans, Kshatris, and Vaisyas ought, according to ancient Hindu writings, to be, first, Brahmacharis, practising celibacy and devoting their lives to study and religious exercises ; secondly, grihastkis, or married men leading secular lives ; thirdly, banparasthis, or anchorets, when their wives might accompany them and they might live on forest fruit, tubers, and roots; and fourthly, sanyasis, completely renouncing the world and subsisting altogether on alms. ↩︎
Vamis or Vamacharis. For some account of them see Professor H. H. Wilson’s Essays on the Religion of the Hindus, Vol. I. ↩︎
Compare the use of the word mancus by Horace. ↩︎
Rivers of pilgrimage or idols. ↩︎